Nearly one in seven people in the United States suffer from some type of chronic sleep disorder, and only 50% of people are estimated to get the recommended seven to eight hours of sleep each night. It is further estimated that sleep deprivation and its associated medical and social costs (loss of productivity, industrial accidents, etc.) exceed $150 billion per year. Excessive sleepiness can deteriorate the quality of life and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality due to its role in industrial and transportation accidents. Sleepiness further has undesirable effects on motor vehicle driving, employment, higher earning and job promotion opportunities, education, recreation, and personal life.
Primary sleep disorders affect approximately 50 million Americans of all ages and include narcolepsy, restless legs/periodic leg movement, insomnia, and most commonly, sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is defined as the cessation of breathing during sleep. The three major types of sleep apnea are obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), central sleep apnea (CSA), and complex sleep apnea (COMPSA). Of these three, CSA is rare, while OSA is the most common. CompSA is a relatively new disease state that manifests itself after therapy is applied. Patients with CompSA are characterized by the emergence of new CSA events after the application of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). USA's prevalence in society is comparable with diabetes, asthma, and the lifetime risk of colon cancer. OSA is grossly under diagnosed; an estimated 80-90% of persons afflicted have not received a clinical diagnosis. OSA is characterized by repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep due to the obstruction and/or collapse of the upper airway (throat), usually accompanied by a reduction in blood oxygen saturation, and followed by an awakening to breathe (an apnea event). Respiratory effort continues during the episodes of OSA. Multiple episodes of apnea may occur in one night, causing sleep disruption. CSA is a neurological condition causing cessation of all respiratory effort during sleep, usually with corresponding decreases in blood oxygen saturation. In contrast to OSA, where there is respiratory effort from the brain stem but a physical blockage prevents inhalation of oxygen, in CSA the brainstem center controlling breathing shuts down, resulting in no respiratory effort and no breathing. The subject is aroused from sleep by an automatic breathing reflex. Frequent activation of the reflex results in very little sleep for the subject. The neurological mechanism behind CSA is very different from the physical cause of OSA. Although the effects of CSA and OSA are highly similar, effective treatment can differ. CompSA can be thought of as a combination of OSA and CSA. As mentioned before, CompSA is characterized by an emergence of CSA events after CPAP initiation.
Medications, hygiene, or some physical form of therapy can be used to treat apneas. Treatment of OSA and CSA vary substantially, which makes a proper diagnosis of the correct type of sleep apnea (OSA, CSA or CompSA) critical for an effective treatment. Apnea treatment is provided based on the type of apnea, and can be adjusted by re-testing the subject at some later time to determine whether the condition or the symptoms have been alleviated. The most common method of treating OSA is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and positive airway pressure (PAP) devices applied to the subject's airway to force the subject to breathe. When using a simple CPAP device to treat OSA, the air pressure acts as a splint, holding the airway open and reducing or removing the obstruction. The optimal pressure is determined by a sleep technician during a single titration night. The sleep technician manually adjusts the device to deliver a minimum pressure sufficient to force the airway open and reduce the number of apneas. Once the optimal pressure is determined, the device is programmed to consistently provide this pressure, and the patient is sent home.
Slightly more advanced PAP devices automatically adjust the gas pressure based on sensors built into the device. The sensors measure gas flow, pressure, or other fluid characteristics in the device or its mask, and adjust the delivered pressure based on various algorithms known in the art. These auto-PAP devices rely on the single, physiological variable (the measured or estimated fluid characteristics) to predict or detect an apnea event.
None of the devices on the market can be used to adjust the air flow delivered to a subject based on the subject's current physiological state or the subject's current symptoms. Further, none of the current devices can use a rich data set to predict or detect apnea and provide appropriate treatment. Still further, none of the current CPAP or PAP titration methods use a rich set of data over single or multiple nights to set the optimal pressure and other parameters. Still even further, none of the current devices can be used to automatically adjust a treatment device based on a comprehensive evaluation of the subject's physiological signals. Still even further, none of the current titration devices can be used in the subject's home.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to adjust the treatment gas flow or pressure delivered to the subject based on the subject's current physiological state or symptoms. It is another object of the present invention to use a rich data set over multiple nights to titrate the CPAP treatment. It is another object of the present invention to use a closed-loop or partially closed-loop system to automatically titrate the CPAP treatment based on the subject's physiological signals. It is still another object of the present invention to treat a subject's apnea in a predictive manner. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system or method of treating a subject's apnea using the subject's physiological signals. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device and method of titration in the subject's home. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a device and method of titration in the hospital's acute or sub-acute settings, such as for postoperative management of care.